I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to refuse vehicles, particularly any front or side loading, rear discharging vehicle body dedicated to hauling refuse and recyclables, and more specifically relates to a new compacting and ejecting mechanism disposed within such a vehicle for packing refuse or recyclables from a charging hopper into an associated oversized, relatively long, storage body and later fully ejecting the same from the storage body without tilting a portion of the storage body.
II. Related Art
Refuse hauling trucks commonly include a heavy-duty chassis and a hollow truck body mounted on the chassis and dedicated to receiving, compacting and discharging refuse materials. This combination generally includes all the associated hydraulic, pneumatic and/or electric operating mechanisms associated with heavy-duty packing and ejection equipment. Such trucks are typically loaded from the rear, front, or side and have heavy hydraulic-operated compacting systems to compact the refuse within the storage bodies of the trucks.
In the case of front or side loading vehicles, refuse or recyclables are dumped into a top loading charging hopper rearward of both the vehicle cab and a packing blade disposed in a retracted or stowed position within the charging hopper. In one type of cylinder-operated packing blade, a hollow, relatively vertical ram is moved aft along a horizontal plane in the manner of a plow blade to pack and compress the refuse a short distance into the storage body after each loading. Between loadings, the ram or packer blade is moved to a forward stowed position in the charging hopper, to allow more refuse to enter the charging hopper rearward of the blade. In this incremental manner, refuse is eventually packed against a heavy-duty tailgate until the storage body is full. Typically, the packed material in a full storage body is ejected or discharged by opening the heavy tailgate and tilting the storage body to dump the contents. Ejection may be assisted by employing the packing ram to push the material toward the open tailgate, but full powered ejection is not possible. Thus the load must not be packed so tight that gravity cannot cause the load to empty from the storage body. A representative example of such a refuse vehicle appears in U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,767, issued to Edelhoff et al. which describes a front loading refuse vehicle that must be tilted to empty the refuse from the storage compartment of the vehicle.
In the refuse hauling industry, the total load that a refuse vehicle is able to carry before requiring dumping, is becoming increasingly significant. The fewer times a refuse vehicle must be emptied at a waste site, the more efficient the refuse handling process becomes. It will be recognized that the available load capacity may be restricted by the particular type of packing or ejecting arrangement implemented in the refuse vehicle. While it is desirable to increase the capacity of the storage body the overall size of the vehicle cannot exceed certain size, weight and height restrictions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,394 issued to Bowles discloses a compacting and ejecting system for a self-contained refuse handling and transporting vehicle. It does not appear that the Bowles' packing/ejecting system would be useful in an oversized storage body. In that system, a packing ram is positionable in either of a packing or ejecting position within the body of the vehicle. The packing ram includes a diagonally telescoping cylinder aligned vertically within the charging hopper opening, wherein one end is attached to the packing ram and the other end is attached to an anchor block. The anchor block is slidable along upper side rails between a first packing position and a second ejecting position and includes pins or plungers which lock into either fore (packing) or aft (ejecting) holes. When the pins are engaged in the holes, the anchor block is locked into position. A cylinder is used to withdraw and disengage the pins from the holes. To move the anchor block between fore and aft positions, an inch worm type motion is required, extending the packing cylinder, unlocking the anchor block and retracting the packing cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,366 issued to De Filippi discloses a packing and ejecting system operable in a conventional refuse vehicle. A packing ram and sliding block or bridge slide fore and aft within the charging hopper and storage body on a pair of tracks. The pair of tracks are spaced apart and positioned in the lower corners of the storage body, extending longitudinally therein. A telescopic ejecting cylinder is both centered between the side walls of the charging hopper and positioned between the forward end of the charging hopper and sliding block. Essentially horizontal, criss-crossed compacting cylinders are positioned between the sliding block and a packing ram. While this system can accomplish full ejection, it does so with the sacrifice of significant loading volume. As seen in FIGS. 1-2, when the compacting cylinders are fully retracted, the packing ram is drawn towards but short of the sliding block. In this arrangement, the load capacity of the charging hopper is reduced by the width of the sliding block and the distance between the sliding block and the packing ram when positioned in the stowed position.
While strides have been made, a need clearly persists for a packing apparatus that is both operable in a packing and fully ejecting mode that avoids potential jamming, and is operable in an oversized or elongate storage body without significantly decreasing the holding capacity of the charging hopper and which thereby allows refuse to be loaded from either the front or side while eliminating the need to tilt the storage body during the dump cycle. The present invention meets these needs.